In my last post, I talked about my decision to build a FreeNAS box. Today I'm going to dive into the hardware I selected, starting with the motherboard, CPU, and memory. FreeNAS runs on any PC hardware, but building a reliable and scalable storage solution means picking higher-end components. I selected a Supermicro X10SL7 server-class motherboard with 14 (!) SAS/SATA ports … [Read more...] about My FreeNAS Build: Supermicro X10SL7, Intel Haswell Xeon, ECC RAM
LSI
Can Fusion-io Survive Commoditization?
No small storage company has had more press coverage and "buzz" than "ioMemory" maker, Fusion-io. I have long marveled at the company's ability to attract attention, but this has rubbed some analysts wrong. As component vendors enter their space, how can a premium company with proprietary products compete over the long term? The Facts of the Flash Market Fusion-io sells … [Read more...] about Can Fusion-io Survive Commoditization?
Solid State Storage Symposium – San Jose, CA
It seems like everything in storage is in flux right now, with virtualization, commoditization, convergence, and solid state disrupting everything. That's why we at Gestalt IT have decided to host a Symposium on the topic of Solid State Storage: We'll be bringing in experts from a number of top companies to talk tech, and are inviting anyone interested to attend in person or … [Read more...] about Solid State Storage Symposium – San Jose, CA
EMC VFCache (aka “Project Lightning”) Is One Small Step, But an Important One
EMC will today unveil a new product, and will no doubt attract a great deal of press. The modest technical capabilities of VFCache 1.0 limit its use case, but the announcement is big news, since it marks EMCs first foray into the hot server-attached storage market. EMC VFCache is a Simple Read Cache I was not pre-briefed on this product, and I'm not all that thrilled at the … [Read more...] about EMC VFCache (aka “Project Lightning”) Is One Small Step, But an Important One
My Incomplete, Subjective List of Enterprise SSD Companies
This morning, Jean-Jacques Maleval posted a “complete list of 85 SSD manufacturers in the world” over at StorageNewsletter. I was surprised to see so many unfamiliar names in the list, and set about doing some research into who all these companies are. It seems that the vast majority focus on military/embedded or OEM markets, with the consumer space accounting for a large … [Read more...] about My Incomplete, Subjective List of Enterprise SSD Companies